Sooners Open Season In Tulsa

Sept. 5, 2009

TULSA, Okla.-- The University of Oklahoma women's and men's cross country teams opened the season with fourth and fifth-place finishes, respectively, at the Hurricane Festival Saturday morning in Tulsa, Okla.

The Sooner women were anchored by a strong fourth-place finish from senior Lauren Watson, who completed the two-mile course in 11 minutes and 15 seconds.

The OU women's team had a trio of top-twenty finishers as newcomers Molly Ferguson (11:47) finished 17th and Ellen Hargens (11:50) crossed the line in 19th along with Watson's fourth-place finish.

Rounding out the women's scoring was senior Ellen Dobbin with a time of 12:04 and junior Lindsey Pierson (12:06). Sophomore Natalie Crain finished the course with a mark of 12:30.

The Sooner men were led on the four-mile course by junior Chris Sweeney (21:03), who finished 11th, followed closely by senior Tony Clement (21:05), who finished 12th. Junior Kels Moreland (21:23) and redshirt-freshman Ross Larimer (21:32) crossed the finish line in 25th and 26th, respectively, while junior Scott Cooper (21:54) rounded out the men's scoring in Saturday's meet.

Tulsa scored 35 points to win the women's team title over Oklahoma State (45), Oral Roberts (75), Oklahoma (75) and Oklahoma Wesleyan (147). The Oklahoma State men's team won the men's title with 32 points. Rounding out the men's scoring were Tulsa (86), Texas (91), Oral Roberts (97) and Oklahoma rounding off the top five teams with 106 points.

The Oklahoma program returns to action on Sept. 26 when it travels to Minneapolis, Minn., for the Roy Griak Invitational.